PHYSIOLOGY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



723F 



There are certain facts connected with the 

 larger nervous centres which strongly indicate 

 the correctness of this assumption. Thus, the 

 existence of special accumulations of vesicular 

 matter connected with them, where any parti- 

 cular developement of the nervous force is 

 needed, is much in favour of this view. As 

 instances, we may cite the special electrical 

 lobes in the electrical fishes, the ganglionic en- 

 largements on the medulla oblongata of the 

 gurnard, the median lobe, occupying a similar 

 position to the electrical lobe above referred 

 to, which is found in the remora or sucking- 

 fish, and from which nerves are supplied to 

 the suctorial disc on the head of that animal. 

 Allied to these is the remarkable fact pointed 

 out by Professor Sharpey, that the arms of the 

 cuttle-fish contain ganglia which furnish nerves 

 to the suckers which exist upon them in great 

 number. Furthermore, the anatomy of the 

 nervous system in some of the Mollusca, the 

 Conchifera for example, in which a separate 

 ganglion appears to exist for each function, for 

 respiration, for locomotion, for deglutition, &c., 

 is beautifully illustrative of the office of ganglia. 

 When, however, we come to inquire into the 

 office of the particular ganglia which exist in 

 Man and the Vertebrata,it is, in some instances, 

 difficult to determine what object can be gained 

 by a special evolution of nervous force by some 

 of them. It may be inquired what is the func- 

 tion performed by the ganglia on the posterior 

 roots of spinal nerves, on the large root of the 

 fifth, on the glosso-pharyngeal, on the vagus 

 nerves ? Can it have reference, as already 

 suggested in a former part of the article, to 

 the part which these nerves perform in connec- 

 tion with tactile sensibility or with the sense of 

 taste, as in the fifth and glosso-pharyngeal, in 

 analogy with the ganglia attached to the olfac- 

 tory and optic nerves, and probably with the 

 auditory ? Or have these ganglia anything to 

 do with the nutrition of the parts among which 

 their nerves are distributed, as Dr. M. Hall 

 suggests, in which case they would present an 

 obvious analogy, and might be classed with the 

 sympathetic ganglia? 



The data which would assist in coming to 

 a right conclusion upon this subject are so few, 

 that, with our present knowledge, it is impos- 

 sible to form anything like a distinct hypothesis 

 regarding it. I would remark with reference 

 to the last-mentioned conjecture that it would 

 receive great support if gelatinous nerve-fibres 

 were found to take their rise from the ganglia 

 and to follow the course of bloodvessels. 



With regard to the use of the ganglia of the 

 sympathetic, the proved existence of gelatinous 

 fibres, peculiar to these ganglia and taking 

 their rise from them, distinctly indicates that 

 they are the seat of a special developement of 

 nervous power, whether spontaneously arising 

 in the nutrient changes of ganglia, or by the 

 reflexion of a change propagated to them by 

 afferent nerves implanted in them. The va- 

 rious facts which show that the sympathetic sys- 

 tem enjoys an existence and power independent 

 of the cerebro-spinal axis also confirm this view. 

 But we must enquire further what is gained 



by the passage of certain nerve-fibres through 

 these ganglia, as is the case with most if not all 

 the tubular fibres connected with them ? It 

 may be that in their passage through the gan- 

 glia the tubular fibres acquire an arrangement 

 in new sets or fascicles in a manner analogous 

 to that which occurs in the plexuses. But 

 this can scarcely be the only object of this 

 connection. Do these fibres associate the cere- 

 bro-spinal centres with the ganglionic system ? 

 or do they themselves in passing again through 

 vesicular matter experience some modification 

 in their vital endowments ? These questions 

 cannot be satisfactorily solved in the present 

 state of our knowledge. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE ANATOMY AND PHY- 

 SIOLOGY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



I. Of the Nervous System in general. 



Aristotle, Historia Auimalium. Galen, De admi- 

 nistrat. anatom. Vesalius, De corp. humani fa- 

 brica, Basil, 1555. Willis, Opera omnia, 1682. 

 Vieussens, Neurographia universalis, 1684. Hatter, 

 Elementa Physiologic, t. iv. 1762. Whytt, On the 

 vital and other involuntary motions, 1752, and on 

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 and Ed., and collected in aii8vovol., Lond. 1844. 

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 9ons sur les fonctions et les maladies du Syst. Nerv. 

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 M. Hall's works, 1832-1843 ; vid. ant. p. 721u. 

 Mayo, The Nervous System, 1842 ; Flourens, Re- 

 cherches exp. du Syst. Nerv., ed. 2de, Par. 1842. 

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 Med. Gazette, 1841. Valentin, De functionibus 

 Nerv. Cerebr. et Nerv. Sympath., 1839. Volk- 

 mann, art. Nervcnphysiologie, in Wagner's Hand- 

 worterbuch. 



II. Of parts of the Nervous System. 



THE BRAIN. Malpighi, Decerebro; et de cere- 

 bri cortice, opera, Lond. 1636. Ridley H, The Anat. 

 of the Brain ; and in Latin, Lugd. Bat. 1725. Mor- 

 gagni, Adversar Anatom. 1741. Albinus, De cortice 

 et medulla cerebri in Acad. Annot., 1725-29. Turin, 

 Adversaria Anatom. 1750. Lorry, Mem. de 1'Acad. 

 des Sc. 1760. Zinn, Dissert, sistens experiment! 

 circa corpus callosum, &c. in vivis aniraalibus in- 

 stituta, Gotting. 1749, and in Haller's Dissert. Anat. 

 t. vii. Ludwig, Scriptores Neurologici minores, 

 containing papers on the brain by Meckel, Mur- 

 ray, Soemmering, &c. Malacarne, Encefalotomia 

 nuova universale, 1780, et Nervo-encephalotomia, 

 1791. Soemmering, De bast encephali et orig. nerv. 

 cranio egredientitim, in Ludwig, Script. Neurol. min. 

 t. ii. 1792 ; De lapillis intra gland, pineal, sitis, 

 sive de acervulo cerebri, in Ludwig, t. iii. ; Vom 

 Him und Ruckenmark, 1788 ; Uber das Organ der 

 Seele, 1796; Tabula baseos encephali, 1799; Qua- 

 tuor hominis adulti encephalum describentes ta- 

 bu! as comment, illust. E. d'Alton, Berlin, 1830. 



Vicq d'Azi/r, Various papers in Mem. de 1'Acad. 

 des Sc. 1781-1783; Traite d'Anat. ct de Phys. 



